Jean de Beaugrand (1584 – 22 December 1640) was the foremost

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

lineographer of the seventeenth century. Though born in

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning '' mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region, eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. It is the largest city in Haut-Rhin and second largest in Alsace a ...

(then part of the

Old Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy or Swiss Confederacy ( Modern German: ; historically , after the Reformation also , "Confederation of the Swiss") was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or In the charters of the 14th centur ...

), de Beaugrand moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

in 1581. He also worked as a

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

and published works on geostatics. He is credited with naming the

cycloid In geometry, a cycloid is the curve traced by a point on a circle as it rolls along a straight line without slipping. A cycloid is a specific form of trochoid and is an example of a roulette, a curve generated by a curve rolling on another cu ...

. He lived and worked in Paris as an artist until his death in 1640.

References

*D Diderot,

Encyclopédie ''Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers'' (English: ''Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts''), better known as ''Encyclopédie'', was a general encyclopedia publis ...

, First edition, Book 4, 596. *George Hanton, ''French Lineography'', Gregory Kline Books, New York, 1927. *H Nathan, Biography in Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York 1970–1990). *P Humbert, Les Astronomers français de 1610 à 1667, Société d'études scientifiques et archéologiques de Draguignan, Memoires 63 (1942), 1-72. 1584 births 1640 deaths Emigrants from the Old Swiss Confederacy to France 17th-century French mathematicians French calligraphers Artists from Mulhouse French Baroque painters Scientists from Mulhouse {{France-painter-stub